Tag: Love

I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate him this month in my blog since February is the month of love. We will celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary this year and we have two wonderful sons who bring so much joy and love to our lives. We are now empty nesters so we have a lot of time on our hands but don’t waste a minute of it. We really enjoy spending time together and just hanging out. He really is my best friend.

I would have to say travel is our favorite thing to plan for and do, whether it is hopping in the car and driving to Glacier National Park in MT, or taking a trip to Italy for my 50th birthday (best trip ever), or just a weekend up at the Northshore in MN, we always have a great time together.

We also enjoy being Great Aunt Melissa and Great Uncle Lewis! We have 4 great nieces and 3 great nephews and are enjoying watching them become parents and let the next generation begin.

I consider myself so incredibly blessed that I found my true love, my life partner who stands beside me through all of the ups and downs in life. I have always said he is the tree by the water, so calm and steady in my life.

When writing this blog about my New Year’s resolutions, I thought “Well, that’s going to be easy!” My New Year’s resolutions really never seem to change that much from year to year; lose a little bit of weight, exercise more, get more sleep – the typical, classic resolutions. I’ve always enjoyed writing down my goals and resolutions, it gives me tremendous satisfaction just to see them on paper and I actually get quite ceremonious about it! However, this year when I sat down, I found it hard to find my focus and writing down the same thing just wasn’t doing it for me.

I’m very blessed that my family life is amazing and my work life is a dream so my resolutions always seemed to end up being about my own personal growth and improvement year after year. But wait, maybe that was the problem! Maybe that was the reason why my resolutions always felt so empty and unfulfilling. My goals have always been focused on…me.

After much thought of what really mattered to me, what made my heart feel full, what made me smile every day, what made me feel so blessed, (outside of my family, of course), I finally figured out what my biggest resolution and focus of 2017 was going to be:

CHERISHING, LOVING and SHOWING GRATITUDE TO MY FRIENDS!

I’m going to start bringing my resolution to life with my absolute dearest friend who has looked out for me since I was five years old. She knows me better than nearly anyone and has been by my side for all the highs and lows my life has experienced so far. She loves me unconditionally and I love her the same. From a young age, she instilled within me a discipline and work ethic that was well beyond my years. She taught me the importance of chasing your dreams, even though sometimes it was hard to keep the dreams in your sight through the fog of the “failures” along the way. She taught me poise, grace, manners and respect. She opened up doors of opportunity and helped me to not be afraid to walk through them. She taught me humility and to always remember where I came from. She was my comfort as I was losing my mom and reminded me that she was my “second mom” and will always be there for me. Her name is Judy. She doesn’t live close to me anymore, so I am committed to calling, texting, and sending her little gifts more just because she is “My Judy.” There really are no words to describe what a force she has been in my life and how I know, without a doubt, that my life would have turned out very differently if not for her.

So there it is, my goal for 2017:

To tell and show my friends that I love and cherish them with my whole heart.

Judy is just the beginning. Gratefully, I am blessed with many more friends who I will show my love and gratitude to as we journey through 2017 together.